Inspiron 1420 running super hot

try blowing it out with compressed air. It is probably clogged with dust I'd imagine

Agree. I don't know why Dell has a stupid habbit of replacing dirty heatsinks...a waste of money if you ask me.

Alright so I cleaned out my laptop. I understand that it is probably the simplest thing to do first and this time I did forget before asking. However, frozenlead, it would of been stupid for them to replace a dirty heatsink but I did remember last time before contacting dell.. I totally dismantled my laptop screw by screw and cleaned it with compressed air to have it make barely any difference afterward so there was some kind of hardware problem.

Any other ideas guys? I'm just curious to find opinions. Currently its running just shy of 80 degrees while just typing this.. Nothing else.

I'm assuming that the fan is actually working properly. It almost sounds like they are using really crappy thermal paste that is drying out really quickly. Since you've already messed with taking apart your system, you could try and replace the thermal paste. Something like AS5 would be fine and you can get a tube for only like $5 at a local computer store or Best Buy.

Note: This probably should only be done if the laptop is out of warranty as this will most likely void it. Also check and see if there is a BIOS update as they may have adjusted the system fan.

Hmm.. I'll check on the BIOS thing.. (unfortunately? lol) in this situation I don't want to void the warranty cause I still have 2-3 years left on it.. Is this something they'll do for me so it doens't get voided?

And the fan does seem to be working fine.. After the dell technician replaced the heatsink and fan it worked really good for awhile.. I tried to pay attention but I was really busy with college work.. He might of applied a thermal paste when replacing the parts?

^He most likely did apply paste, but I doubt it was anything good. And metal on metal heat conduction is generally pretty poor. It just seems odd since the fan is working and there, theoretically, isn't anything on just the heatsink that would go bad.

On that line of though, can you try and adjust the retention screws on the heatsink? They may have loosened which may be causing poor contact between the heatspreader and the sink.

yeah I can definitely try that.. Anything else you think I might wana look for while I open it up? Just to kill two birds with one stone..

^no, that's about all I can think of atm.